


The Reassignment

by bfketh



Series: Strange New Worlds [1]
Category: Shingeki no Kyojin | Attack on Titan
Genre: Alternate Universe - Star Trek Fusion, Gen or Pre-Slash, Humor, M/M, Pre-Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-03-11
Updated: 2016-03-11
Packaged: 2018-05-26 02:03:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,070
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6219358
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bfketh/pseuds/bfketh
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Following the successful defense of a medical research station against Cardassian dissidents, Eren, Mikasa, and Armin are reassigned to an Intrepid-class Federation starship, the USS <em>Diomedes</em>, just before it begins a four-year deep space assignment to explore uncharted areas of the Alpha Quadrant.</p>
            </blockquote>





	The Reassignment

**Author's Note:**

> This is the first in a series of oneshots that will eventually lead to ereri, although there's nothing particularly shippy in this first installment.

Eren tugged at the collar of his dress uniform, only to have Mikasa smack his hand away.

"Eren, stop fidgeting. We're supposed to be mingling."

"I can't help it. I hate these things. I wish they'd bring the old ones back."

Armin snagged a glass of wine from a passing waiter's tray. "They were more comfortable."

"Yeah. And I look damn good in a dress."

Mikasa just rolled her eyes and smoothed down her white jacket, turning away to exchange a few pleasantries with one of the Tellarite envoys. Which, with a Tellarite, meant mostly complaining about the dinner that had been served and the length of the speeches as various individuals and crews had received their awards. Meanwhile, Eren started to crane his head around, scanning the large crowd filling the ballroom.

"Eren, what are you doing?"

"I was just wondering if any of the _Enterprise_ crew was here."

Armin snorted. "You mean you were hoping to catch a glimpse of Captain Picard."

Eren looked indignant, but before he could reply, Mikasa turned back to them. "The last I heard, Admiral Janeway had the _Enterprise_ investigating something in Sector 10."

"Oh." Eren instantly deflated and rubbed the back of his neck. "I was kinda hoping we might be reassigned there, but I guess not if they aren't even on Earth right now."

"I seem to remember you saying the same thing when we graduated, Jaeger." A new voice spoke up behind them, and all three turned to see Jean, familiar crooked grin stretching his lips. "It's good to see some things from the Academy haven't changed."

Eren smiled and sweetly said, " _HIchop_ , _Sargh qab_."

Jean's grin dropped down into a frown. "You know, one of these days I'm going to find out what that means."

"I told you already; it's a term of respect."

"Yeah? Then why do I get the feeling that if I said that to a Klingon, I'd end up getting my ass handed to me?"

"Wow, such a cynic. So, what're you doing here, Flyboy? I thought you were on starship assignment."

Jean shrugged. "Still am. The _Diomedes_ was called back to Earth. Rumor is we're about to be sent out on a deep space mission." He sipped his drink and looked around the room before changing the subject. “Was your mom able to make it to the ceremony? I know I saw Mikasa and Armin’s families earlier, but I haven’t ran into her yet.”

Eren grinned. “Aw, you’re concerned about me. How sweet.”

“Pffft, as if.” Jean rolled his eyes and looked away with feigned indifference, given away by the light pink coloring on the tips of his ears.

Eren decided to give him a break instead of teasing him further. “Yeah, Mom made it. She had to leave a few minutes ago, though; she’s got an early flight back to Qo'noS.”

“Man, that sucks.”

Eren shrugged. “She’s on the ambassador’s staff; she’s used to it. I kinda wish I had enough leave before our assignment to go with her. It’d be nice to see home again.”

Jean shook his head. “You’re the only human I know that’d be homesick for _Qo’noS_ of all places. Then again, you do act like a Klingon more than half the time.”

Eren glared at him. “Just what the fuck is that supposed to mean?”

“And there it is.”

Eren opened his mouth to retort, but Armin cleared his throat and interrupted him. “I think Jean’s just trying to say that you’ve got a really bad temper, Eren. Which _you do_.” He levelled a pointed look at Eren. “Don’t try to deny it.”

“Oh, come on, I’m not that bad! It’s not like I’ve challenged anyone to a duel…lately…”

"Just two weeks ago you said, 'Fight me,' to Terry over the last chocolate chip cookie, and he's the one that baked them."

"He knew I was joking, Ar. Besides, you underestimate how much better real food is than the replicator stuff."

Mikasa arched a graceful eyebrow. "Joseph."

"That was _months_ ago. And I only hit him once. That's hardly a duel."

"The only reason you only hit him once is because you knocked him out cold."

Jean leaned over to Armin and whispered, "Who's Joseph?"

"Ex-boyfriend," Armin mouthed back. Jean's eyebrows shot up toward his hairline, and he turned back to watch the exchange with renewed interest.

"Like it's my fault he turned out to have a glass jaw," Eren huffed. "Besides, the lying bastard deserved it."

"I never said he didn't. If you hadn't, I probably would have." Mikasa shrugged. "Although I remember telling you from the beginning that I didn't trust him."

"Yes, O Great Wise One, I bow to your superior judge of character. From now on, I shall bring all my prospective dates to you first for interrogation."

Mikasa narrowed her eyes. "You _think_ you're joking. You have no idea how close to the truth you actually are."

"I don't remember giving you this hard of a time when you and Kirschstein dated. Or rubbing it in your face when you broke up."

Jean coughed into his fist. "Bullshit."

Armin elbowed him in the ribs, but Mikasa and Eren both ignored the interruption. "That's because you like Jean more than you want to admit; you two only ever fought because you're too much alike."

"Hey!" Eren and Jean protested Mikasa in unison, before all four of them burst out laughing.

“Jean.”

Their laughter cut off as a woman with close-cropped blonde hair approached the group. Eren’s eyes flicked to the end of her dress uniform’s sleeves to see the cuff stripes there were the red of the command division. Jean’s shoulders straightened. “Lieutenant.”

She looked over at the other three, giving them a nod of greeting before turning to address Jean. “Captain Smith said our launch time has been moved up five hours, so we’ll be doing our engine trials early tomorrow morning instead of in the evening.”

Jean groaned. “How early is early?”

“Six hundred hours, UTC.”

“Shit, good thing I didn’t drink much then.” He sighed and waved one of the servers over to take away his half-empty glass. “Well, I guess I better go turn in. I’ll see you in the morning, Lieutenant Nanaba.”

She nodded. “I still have to track down the rest of the flight crew and pray none of them are too hungover to function tomorrow.”

“I’d be more worried about the engineers.”

She smiled, “Well, luckily they’re Farlan’s problem, not mine. Good evening.” She looked at the other three before she left. “And congratulations on your awards.”

They murmured thanks as she walked away, and Jean turned back to them. “Well, I guess this is goodbye for now. I’ll see you all later.”

Eren crossed his arms, fighting off a surge of disappointment. He’d never admit it out loud, but this was the first time they’d spoken to Jean in person in the two years since they’d all graduated the Academy, and Eren had missed him, much to his own surprise. “Who knows when that’ll be, though. You’re being sent off into deep space, and we won’t know where we’re being assigned until tomorrow.”

Jean’s lips curved up in another smile. “Oh, I have a feeling we might be meeting again sooner than you think.” As he turned to leave, he called back over his shoulder. “Eren, try not to do anything _else_ heroically suicidal before then.”

“I promise nothing.”

**~~~~~**

 

Eren couldn’t keep a lid on his excitement for the entire morning. He’d been up and into his uniform ages before Mikasa and Armin, something that almost never happened. He imagined he was probably driving his friends nuts by now, but he was honestly too happy to care.

“A spaceship, Mikasa! We’re finally going to be on a spaceship!” Eren grinned excitedly almost as soon as they walked out of the transporter room where they’d beamed up to the Starfleet docking facility from the planet below.

“We were on a spaceship just two days ago, from Vega to Earth, remember?”

“Yeah, as _passengers_ ,” Eren scoffed. He turned to Armin for support. “You’re looking forward to it, right, Ar? I mean, the _Intrepid_ -class ships are some of the most advanced ones in the entire fleet. It’s gonna be loads better than our training ship was.”

“Well, I have to admit your enthusiasm is a bit infectious.”

“So’s the Hesperan thumping cough,” Mikasa quipped, but a small smile lifted up the corner of her mouth as she said it.

Before Eren could reply, the entrance to Docking Bay 104 came into view, along with a familiar figure. Eren let out a whoop and ran forward. “Jean!” When he reached him, he dropped his duffel bag and looped an arm around Jean’s neck to pull his head down. “Why didn’t you tell us we were being assigned to the _Diomedes_ last night, you ass?!”

“You know I wasn’t allowed to until you’d been officially assigned.” Jean shrugged out of Eren’s grip. “Besides, I wanted to see the look on your face.”

While Jean was distracted by Mikasa and Armin greeting him, Eren lightly punched him on the arm. Jean winced, and Mikasa reached over and tugged sharply on Eren’s ear, hissing out, “Behave!”

Eren rubbed his ear and Jean laughed. “Come on. I’ll take you to your quarters so you can stash your stuff. After that, we’ll have just enough time for a tour of the ship before I take you up to the bridge.” He reached down to pick up Eren’s bag for him, but he barely got it off the floor before he grimaced and dropped it. Jean massaged his arm. “What the hell do you have in there, Jaeger? Rocks?”

Eren rolled his eyes and picked his bag up himself, easily slinging the strap over his shoulder. “Just clothes. And my _bat’leth_ . Oh, and a couple _mek’leths_ and some knives.”

Jean gaped at him a second before leading the way into the ship. He shook his head. “Y’know, there’s this neat little thing that Starfleet issues us called ‘phasers.’ Maybe you should try using one sometime.”

Eren pretended to look affronted. “Jean. A _bat’leth_ isn’t as clumsy or random as a phaser. It’s an elegant weapon, for a less civilized age.”

Jean narrowed his eyes. “And now we’re mangling quotes from ancient movies. You’re such a nerd.”

“Ah, but you recognized the quote, so who’s the real nerd here?”

“...Shut up.”

 

The quarters for those ranked Lieutenant Junior Grade were private, with a bathroom shared between every two rooms. Eren and Mikasa, whether by coincidence or design, ended up in a set of paired rooms, which suited them both just fine. The Ensign quarters were set up two to a room, again with a shared bathroom for every two rooms. Jean and his roommate were in the adjoining room to Armin’s. Armin’s roommate was the ship’s nurse, who they met when Jean brought them up to the medbay and introduced them to Dr. Nifa. Christa was a small, delicate-looking woman with blond hair and blue eyes, similar enough to Armin that she could have passed for his sister if she’d been human instead of a Trill, the distinctive brown markings trailing down the sides of her face and neck giving her away.

Jean brought them by the engineering room briefly, the glowing blue cylinder of the class 9 warp core visible behind the monitoring area. They didn’t stay long, as the crew was busy running through some final tests in preparation for departure, but the chief engineer, Farlan, did nod to them briefly in greeting. He had the look of a Vulcan about him, but from the unusual sandy color of his hair, Eren guessed that he was probably at least half-human. As they were leaving, Jean’s combadge beeped.

He pressed it to answer. “Ensign Kirschstein.”

“Jean, we’re about ready for departure.”

“Affirmative. We’re on our way to the bridge now, Lieutenant.” Jean grinned at the other three. “Well, you heard the lady. Come on; let’s go.”

They rode the turbolift up, Eren practically bouncing on his heels the entire way. The door opened, and Jean called out, “Permission to enter the bridge.”

“Permission granted.” The speaker was a tall, blond man with a light beard who was standing near the command chairs.

The four of them stepped onto the bridge proper, Eren doing his best not to crane his head around. Jean straightened up to attention. “Commander Zacharius. Is the Captain in the ready room, sir?”

The man nodded and went back to his discussion with Lieutenant Nanaba. Jean relaxed and motioned for the other three to follow him to a door in the starboard side. The desk in front of the entrance was empty; however, there were three people standing by the forward windows and discussing something as they watched the activity in the docking bay surrounding the vessel. Jean cleared his throat. “Captain Smith, I have our new officers with me.”

The three turned to look at them, and the tallest nodded. “Ah, very good, Jean.” He waved them over, and they climbed the steps to the raised seating area, snapping to attention. The Captain smiled. “As you were.” They relaxed their stances, and the Captain addressed Jean. “Thank you, Mr. Kirschstein. You may return to your duties now.” After Jean left, his attention turned to the other three. “Well, I suppose there’s time for introductions before we get underway. I am Captain Erwin Smith, and to my right are Lieutenant Commander Hanji Zoe, our Chief Science Officer, and Lieutenant Commander Levi, the Chief Tactical Officer and Chief of Security. As such, both you, Mr. Jaeger, and you, Miss Ackerman, will be reporting to him.”

Eren stood a little straighter. He’d heard of Levi - the Vulcan had been highly decorated and lauded as a hero during the Dominion War, gaining a fierce reputation for his ability to break Cardassian and Dominion blockades. He was honestly more than a bit nervous as his eyes flicked over to meet Levi’s impassive stare. It wasn’t that he didn’t like or get along with Vulcans, but considering that they were known for being logical and calm and Eren was so...not, he wasn’t sure that he’d be able to make a favorable impression on his superior officer.

Eren dragged his attention to Erwin, who was still speaking. “Mr. Arlert, Commander Zoe has been quite enthusiastic about having you in their division. Exobiology and astrophysics are quite an unusual combination of fields of study.”

“I’ve always had diverse interests, sir.”

“Ooh, Erwin, I like this one.” Hanji leaned forward and adjusted the rather archaic glasses they wore to peer at Armin. Next to them, Levi rolled his eyes and grabbed Hanji by their ponytail to pull them back upright.

“Oi, ease off a bit. You don’t want to scare this one off by going full ‘mad scientist’ off the bat, do you? The kid already looks like he’s shitting his pants as it is.”

Hanji rubbed the back of their head and pouted. “Honestly, if anyone’s going to scare them, it’s _you_ , Commander Grumpy-Pants. Didn’t your mother ever tell you that if you keep scowling like that, your face will freeze that way?”

“ _Khoi-udt_.”

At a loud sigh from Erwin, the two of them stopped bickering. Eren turned wide-eyes from them to the Captain, who raked his hand through his thick blond hair. “Well, I think it’s time we prepare for launch. Eren, Mikasa, Armin, if you’d like, you may watch from the bridge.”

Eren couldn’t have stopped the grin from stretching his face if he’d tried. “Thank you, sir!”

Erwin just chuckled as he led the way out of the ready room.

 

They found an out of the way spot to stand in, near where Jean was stationed at one of the information consoles in the back. Erwin had taken his place in the Captain’s chair with the First Officer, Mike Zacharius, seated to his left. Nanaba and Hanji had taken their places at the consoles in front of the command area, although the seat between them - the Chief Engineer’s position, if Eren remembered correctly - was empty. Levi took up position at the console set into the rail directly behind command.

The deck under Eren’s feet began vibrating as the engines were brought online, and faint clangings and jolts announced the release of the _Diomedes_ from her moorings. “Take us out, straight and easy, Lieutenant.”

“Aye, sir,” Nanaba answered Erwin, and the ship began moving forward until the spacedock was left behind and a field of stars spread out over the forward windows.

Erwin pressed a button on his console. “Engineering, status.”

“All systems performing in expected parameters. Ready when you are, Captain.”

“Prepare for warp. Nanaba, lay in our course for DS-9.”

“Course entered, sir. Permission to get underway.”

“Proceed.”

Eren held his breath as, for a single moment no longer than the space between one heartbeat and the next, the entire universe seemed to hang in place around them. Then the stars blurred, bleeding into lines of light, and Eren’s air left him in a noisy exhale. Armin nudged his arm, and he caught Mikasa’s lips twitching upward into a tiny smile. “Shut up,” he whispered, but he was too happy to put even mock annoyance into his voice.

As long as he could remember, Eren had dreamed about serving on a starship for Starfleet. Now, in addition to his wish, his first starship deployment was taking him into space uncharted by the Federation. He was actually going to get to fulfill Starfleet’s mission first hand - to explore strange new worlds, to seek out new life and new civilizations. “To boldly go where no one has gone before,” Eren murmured to himself, too quietly for anyone to hear.

Or _almost_ anyone.

A soft huff that could have possibly been laughter dragged Eren’s gaze to the right where he met a pair of steel-grey eyes. Levi’s mouth quirked up slightly, and Eren’s face flushed as he wrenched his attention back to the windows in front of them, ignoring Mikasa’s questioning stare. He heard another quiet huff, but he stayed facing forward until Erwin dismissed most of the bridge personnel and Jean dragged the three of them off to the mess to meet more of the people they’d be working with for the next four years.

**Author's Note:**

> Some of the words and phrases used, translated.
> 
>  _HIchop, Sargh qab._ : (Klingon) Bite me, horse face.
> 
>  _Khoi-udt._ : (Rihan (Romulan)) Drop dead.
> 
> If you have any questions, feel free to ask them in the comments or on my [tumblr](bfketh.tumblr.com).


End file.
